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Disclaimer- The Rolling Stones- Exile On Main Street is my absolute favorite album of all time.

I have an obsession. Every time I see an original copy of Exile in nice shape I pick it up. Especially if it has the set of postcards. Also if it is an original Artisan stamped pressing. I give these as gifts to those who would appreciate it. These gifts are all over the world. Leeds, Stonehaven Scotland, Denver, Australia, Israel, South Africa, Brooklyn, West Bloomfield.

I have several copies of original US Artisan pressings in various condition, an original Japanese pressing lp, a box set, several reissues and even a print of the original billboard on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles signed by the person who did it Jan Van Hammersveld. The title is Exile On Sunset.

The copy that eluded me was the original UK version. I used to go to London 2-3 times a year to buy/sell/trade for my record shop and in those close to 30 visits I never saw a copy. I finally found one a few years ago in Harrogate U.K. at a small record shop called Evil Eye. Not in amazing shape and no postcards but at the right price (20 UK pounds) I plugged that hole finally. I was pretty pleased.

Fast forward to last weekend(February 18, 2018). For whatever reason I punched in a search online and saw an auction for one graded Near Mint condition and it had the original postcard set intact. It was only at $15.50 with under 2 hours to go. So I watched it. For 2 hours. Of course in the last minute bids started coming in and with 8 seconds left I punched in $57.68. I wound up the high bidder for $44. This is a steal. So much so when I received the tracking number and it just showed the label was purchased with no tracking I just assumed the seller bought a label and didn't ship the LP because it sold for way less than it's value and he was just going to let me file a claim because there was no reserve on this auction. I was furious because as of one week later the package was still not tracking. 

I need to back up to last Friday (February 23, 2018). I was in one of my favorite local record shops and purchased an LP and noticed a wallet sitting on the counter. It was full of cash, credit cards, drivers license etc. I handed over to the shop. They called out the persons name. No answer. Turns out this customer had placed a special order and they had his phone number. I joked I hope I get a nice dose of record karma for this.

Yesterday when I got home I was going to send this auction seller a nasty message. Telling him I know what he is up to and wish he would have just told me the truth and not taken my $50. Before this I clicked on the tracking number one more time and lo and behold it tracked to my PO Box. I picked the LP up today and not only is the condition of the vinyl Near Mint so is the cover, inner sleeves and postcard set. It is also true UK first pressing. COC 69100 and stamped A1/B1/C1/D1. The perfect first UK pressing. 

I am now sitting here while I blog this and am on side 4. I have never heard this Lp sound better. 

Moral of the story..... Do something nice for someone. You never know. I have to believe this has something to do with this whole story. Was I being tested by someone or something when I found the wallet? What made me click on the tracking number one more time before sending a nasty email?

Just another one of life's strange mysteries.